Dark Lord Spooker
by Jonakhensu
Summary: Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived, Hogwarts Student, Future Auror, and Junior Enemy to All Who Live. Wait, what?
1. A Brave New World

Dark Lord Spooker

This is a little something one of my friends and I came up with. We own neither Slayers nor Harry Potter, and this disclaimer is rather useless as their authors can sue us anyways if they like. LaxDrake4 and I hope you enjoy this little piece of literary insanity. Warning: this has not been properly beta-read.

Hey! LaxDfake4 here just wanted to say enjoy and we own NOTHING ... Peace out and again enjoy.

HR.

Harry Potter was not what you would call a happy toddler. In fact, the three-year-old savior of the Wizarding world was down right miserable. Dudley's breakfast spilt that morning, and his Uncle had screamed at him for what seemed like an eternity before the small boy had been locked in the darkness of the cupboard beneath the stairs. The worst part was that he had been denied even the ruined scraps of his cousin's meal.

With how hungry he had been from the night before, getting nothing to eat was enough to make the child desperate for nourishment. It was in this state of primal need that Harry manifested a burst of accidental magic, causing a loaf of bread to bang against the cupboard door. The door was locked, of course, so he didn't actually get it. His efforts did not go unnoticed, or unrewarded, however.

Hours later, Harry was still recovering from his latest beating at the hands of his uncle. This beating had been worse than most of the ones he could remember, though he might have been mistaken, as he had passed out during a few of them from head trauma. If Harry was going to survive, something needed to be done, and soon. Vernon Dursley had repeatedly stated his intention of beating the magic out of Harry, and he was a fair way into making his quest a reality. Magic can only protect the brain from so much damage before important things began to be destroyed, including a wizard's ability to channel and control his magic. Harry was already nearing the border, and if he sustained even a few more such beatings within the next month, irreparable damage would be done.

There are some who claim magic is a sentient thing. Others say it is merely a force to be shaped. Each view was both right and wrong. Magic was not quite sentient, or even intelligent, but it sometimes had its moments. This was to be one of them. Take one protection ward, powered by the love shared between Harry and his relatives, with an otherwise excessively strong initial charge provided a well meaning old man after consultation with the most paranoid bugger on the British Isles. Add to this the mother's love Lily crafted into the only Dark protection ritual still considered legal in England. Granted, this probably had more to do with the fact that Lily had crafted it using bastardized forms of a number of different rituals, some bordering on the Blackest of Arts. The fire at the Potter's house also ensured that no record of it remained, save in Gringotts, which was instructed to give the spell and all of Lily's notes to Harry upon his first trip to the bank, after he received his Hogwarts letter.

The mixture of Harry's intense and immediate need for safety, the blood wards around the house, and the soul magic Lily Potter had carefully woven around her son had a very interesting interaction, resulting in something that had never been seen before. There are, on Earth, a multitude of what could be called soft spots in reality. One of these weak points just happened to be located inside the cupboard under the stairs, at 4 Privet Drive, Surrey, England. While the wards supplied the power, nearly draining them in the process, soul magic, or at least the form used on Harry, was at least vaguely intelligent by its very nature, and directed the maelstrom to come. Any world that would put a child with a family that clearly hated him was no place to live. Wherever that near portal went, it could not be worse than here, or at least it would be an acceptable gamble. With a bright flash that illuminated most of the neighborhood, the wards flared and dimmed as Harry Potter ceased to be.

HR.

As the sun just started to rise from behind the mountains, a bright flash of green eldrich energy lit the sky, emanating from the ground but visible for miles around. While there was no thunder, the rolling shockwave of intangible magic caught the attention of every creature sensitive to such things that it washed over. Some of those beasts ignored it, deciding that their breakfast was far more important. Other creatures were keenly interested and began making their way towards the anomaly. There were also, of course, a few of the former dragged along with the latter.

The first on the scene was the Trickster Priest, Xellos, as teleportation is always faster than walking. He found what appeared to be a human child, beaten and starved. Between its extreme youth and its condition, its considerable misery would not have been a suitable meal for even a mouse. "Hm," he thought to himself, "I think I know just what should be done with you." Looking out from the circle of charred earth, he added, "And they're almost here now." When the first figure crested the horizon, Xellos vanished from view, content to watch and interfere only if necessary. Unless it was amusing, of course.

"There's something here!" bellowed a draconic figure as it circled overhead. "I think it's a child!" Spiraling down, Filia landed at the edge of the clearing, transforming back into a human as she landed. Rushing over to the heap that was a child, she stopped herself from touching him when she noticed just how injured he was. "Amelia!" she yelled again. "Get over here! He's too hurt for me to help!"

Across the field, Amelia acknowledged the message and begins sprinting. A moment later, Zelgadis swept her into his arms, saying, "Allow me." Longer legs and demonic blood can be advantageous, as the chimera proved by breaking into a run that put Amelia's to shame. Soon the pair had reached the circle and were standing over the child with Filia.

As the pair dashed off, Gourry and Lina picked up the pace, doing what they could to not fall too far behind. It didn't work very well. When they joined the other three around the child, Amelia was already beginning a Resurrection spell. It was quite fortunate that the sword and sorcery team had arrived when they did, as the spell needed significantly more energy than Amelia had expected. "Oh, why couldn't Sylphiel be here?" she lamented. "I'm not nearly as good at this as she is."

Zelgadis growled angrily at the thought of a child being beaten so severely. There was no excuse for such treatment, even in the worst villages. Even most bandits tried to leave defenseless children alone, even if the child literally jumped into a sword strike. Whoever had done this would rue the day, as the chimera would return this beating three fold.

"Aw, man," Lina griped. "And here I was hoping to go a full day without having to Fireball someone." While the wording was not the best, the sentiment, at least, was pure.

On the Astral Plane, where he was mocking the strange apparition that surrounded the boy, Xellos nearly gagged. While righteous anger was much too sweet for his tastes, it was much more palatable than what he had been getting lately. His favorite supply of depression had been far too happy of late, and there was very little the mazoku could do about it.

"So," Gourry began, scratching his cheek, "who's going to take care of him?"

"Huh, you're right," Lina agreed. "Taking care of a kid is supposed to be pretty hard. I'd hate to have to be the one taking care of him all by myself."

"Why don't you all raise him together?" Xellos suggested, fading into view. "You all have such wonderful skills you can share with him. Like playing the guitar."

Zelgadis growled for a moment at what could have been an insult. "While that is an idea, why would you want us to do that?"

"That is," the Trickster Priest said, wagging a finger, "a secret."

HR.

Despite the strength of Amelia's healing spell, it took a full three days before the child regained consciousness, and even then just for a brief time. It took until the end of the week for the young boy to truly recover from the physical effects of his ordeal, though any psychological scars would need to be worked on as they appeared. When he moved, the others closed in, hoping that this time the child would stay awake long enough to tell them his name, though knowing how he had gotten into the middle of nowhere with a surge of magic unlike anything they had experienced would be nice, too.

As Harry awoke, the first thing he noticed was that the pain was gone. The second, and more unusual revelation was that he wasn't feeling thirsty, or even hungry. He had, after previous beatings, occasionally woken up feeling fine but extremely hungry, and usually very thirsty as well. As he became increasingly aware of his surroundings, he heard the sounds of a number of people gathering around him. Hopefully he wasn't in a hospital again. Aunt Petunia had locked him in the cupboard for a whole two days last time. "Hey kid, you alright?" he heard a female said, causing him to shrink away from her harsh tone.

The assortment of people, and Xellos, crowding around the boy leaned closer as he opened his eyes, eager to meet the person they had cared for over the last week. The only one to stay back, somewhat, was Zelgadis, who was quite used to being considered a monster. The ones who should be considered monsters, the mazoku, the dragon, and, according to a large number of random villagers, Lina, could all easily pass as human. It was a surprise, then, when, after a brief bout of panic, the young lad pushed through the crowd and hid himself within Zelgadis' cloak.

The others could only blink in shock, other than Xellos who's eyes were closed to begin with, at the odd occurrence. Zelgadis was so surprised that he, out of everyone there, was the one the child had gone to, that it took him nearly a minute react. "Hey," he asked, crouching down to lower himself to the child's level, "what's your name? You can call me Zelgadis, or Zel, if you'd prefer."

Peaking out from the the blue man's cloak, Harry looked around cautiously before saying, "I'm Hawwy." He gave another look towards the normal people, well, relatively normal, the clothes were rather strange, and asked, "They won't huwt me fow being a fweak?"

"Freak?" Filia screeched in rage. How could anybody call a perfectly normal child like this Harry before her a frak? So enraged was she that she failed to notice that Harry was doing his best to hide further into the chimera's cloak. "If I ever get my hands on who ever told you that...!" The gold dragon trailed off when she noticed an odd weight suddenly attached to her tail. It was then that she realized she had gotten so upset that her transformation had released slightly. And now her tail was being treated like a stuffed animal as the child cuddled up to it. The shock of the child's rapid change in behavior calmed Filia down significantly. While she could have hidden her tail again, decided that she found Harry cuddling it to be cute.

Harry, safely hidden in Zel's cloak and hugging his new favorite tail, warily looked at the other people who were with them. Three of them were glowing in a manner that the three-year-old knew could not possibly be normal, and the last of them was really weird. He looked almost happy. The child decided to figure it out later. He had a tail that needed cuddling.

HR.

Over the next few months, Harry successfully integrated himself into Aunt Lina's group. His aunts all doted over him, though each did so in her own way. Aunt Filia always let him cuddle her tail, assuming they weren't in a village or something at the time. Aunt Amelia would tell Harry tales about their adventures and the triumph of Justice. And Aunt Lina gave him lots of shinies; they were pretty. His uncles also showered him with attention when it could be spared. Uncle Zel would play guitar while Uncle Gourry would act silly. Uncle Xellos, though... he was a little strange, always making faces behind Harry's back.

Quickly enough, the group began to see signs of uncontrolled magic around their camps. They knew that it could not be Lina, Amelia, or Zelgadis, as all three were masters in their fields, and Filia only had trouble with her transformation magics, which was too obvious to be anything else. Of course, it very easily could have been Xellos, he seemed to find it amusing enough, but rarely were they even moderately annoying. The incidents were definitely not anything a mazoku of his caliber would bother with. By process of elimination, despite how improbable it may have seemed, Harry had to be the culprit.

Even with the amount of damage the group caused, they couldn't allow an untrained sorcerer to cast spells without purpose. There was, of course, only one thing to be done. Yes, it was going to be hard, but Lina, Amelia, and Zelgadis knew that they were the only ones suited for the task at hand. Well, Xellos did offer his assistance, but no one felt Harry needed that kind of help.

Thus, Harry began his unofficial studies in magic. Technically, he should have gone to an Academy, but they were too far away to just casually stop by. Besides, everyone liked the nomadic lifestyle they had developed, and Zelgadis was still looking for a cure for his complexion issues. As it stood, though, Harry might actually have received a better education by staying out of a formal setting. He was taking lessons in Shamanistic Magic from Zelgadis, White Magic from Amelia, and Black Magic from Lina. Each was a master in their own field, and Lina was in a league of her own, so the education they could provide was rather complete.

Each of his instructors took him in turn for a few hours everyday, varying the order and duration of each class everyday on a weekly schedule, as being too structured would be boring and confining to the developing mind. To increase the diversity of each day's activities, Harry was learning subjects other than just magic.

Filia, wanting to have something to contribute, as her particular style of magic was impossible for a human to learn, decided that Harry needed to learn a variety of languages and the beginnings of dragon lore. Xellos was discouraged from teaching their charge anything; he still worked on Harry's sense of humor, much to everyone's annoyance. Gourry was working on the foundations of sword fighting; he was a surprisingly good teacher. Amelia was instructing Harry in history, culture, and some small amount of diplomacy. Lina was doing what she could to teach Harry about economics, finances, and haggling. That last task was doomed to take quite some time.

HR.

"Harry, do you know what happened to my cape?" Lina asked, holding up the remains of the once vibrant garment. It was now covered in a myriad of different stains, ranging from common dirt and grass to things the redhead didn't really want to think about it.

Harry fidgeted slightly under his aunt's reproving gaze. "Maybe," he finally admitted in a sing-song voice.

"Well," Lina prompted. "What happened?"

Harry waggled a finger and answered, "That is a secwet."

HR.

As Harry turned five, he looked back on his life these past two years. While his family had initially worried about him when they had discovered that Harry was most definitely not from their world. It was plainly obvious that such concerns were unfounded, as the boy had thrived in what his old world might consider primitive. It was the lack of cars, really. The things were about as common as trolls back in what he remembered was called England.

Harry was also quite proud about how his training was coming along. While he was nowhere near ready to even attempt any of the higher level spells, he had the theory for several of of them down. As for the lesser spells... Uncle Xellos did make a good target. The young mage prided himself on having remained equally focused on all three of the magical disciplines while still achieving the level of excellence his aunts and uncle demanded. At the rate he was learning, he might be able to graduate even earlier than Aunt Lina had!

Uncle Gourry had also been continuing his training with the sword, and Harry was even occasionally allowed to take on a bandit by himself! True, his family was always nearby in case anything went wrong. Recently Uncle Zelgadis had joined his sword training as, even though Uncle Gourry was better, Uncle Zelgadis' style had different techniques and could be helpful in creating a style best suited for himself. Even Aunt Filia had decided to give Harry lessons in armed combat, specifically with a mace. Once again, he tried to keep a nice balance in his training, in order to please all of his Aunts and Uncles, making him competent, if not excellent in each of those fields for someone of his age. He could always learn more when he was a little older and strong enough to swing the mace or sword properly for some of the more complicated moves.

Over the last year Uncle Zelgadis had also taught him the basics of playing the guitar. While it was nothing complicated, Harry enjoyed playing, and Aunt Lina enjoyed all the money the women in the various towns and cities would give him. Apparently he was too cute to not give coins to when he was playing. For some reason, Uncle Xellos was never around when this happened, and he would always complain of an upset stomach. Harry was also very proud of his guitar, as, with a large amount of help from Uncle Zelgadis, he had made it himself.

Yes, Harry decided, he much preferred his new home to the one he still remembered far too vividly. While it strange, and dangerous here, having a loving family was much more important to the young boy. After all, his former home had been dangerous, too, and that was because of his aunt and uncle there. Given the choice of staying here and nearly dieing on almost a daily basis or going back to that place, he'd Fireball the person asking.

HR.

It was Harry's sixth birthday, and he had asked his aunts and uncles to get him a pet. Unfortunately, Lina had declared that no one was to buy him a pet, on the grounds that their budget couldn't handle it until their next major bandit camp. When Xellos brought up the possibilities of using esoteric methods of acquiring a pet for their charge, she had Fireballed him and began ranting about not giving Harry a demon. Especially not after the last time.

The day after, they had stumbled upon a strange temple, that had the usual signs of being heavily trapped, the pile of bodies near the door being a major clue. As per usual, Harry was made to wait outside, this time with Filia. On the bright side, it did give the boy a chance to practice his Draconic. Filia was quite proud of her pupil. He was already almost a fluid speaker, with an accent that really couldn't be avoided with a human larynx.

Inside the temple, they found not much. There were a few jewels, which were quickly collected, a few scraps of fabric, and some crumbling statues. It only took an hour to complete find and claim everything of value, even while making sure all of it was safe to handle. They were on their way out when something caught Gourry's eye. Walking over, he bent down, picked the object up, and left, small statue in hand. He never noticed that the statue's eyes flashed yellow for a brief moment.

HR.

"Wow!" Harry exclaimed, looking at the sword and mace laid out before him. "Thanks Uncle Zelgadis! Thanks Aunt Filia!"

"You're welcome, Harry," Zelgadis replied. "Just be sure to take good care of it."

Harry nodded his head excitedly. "Don't worry, I will."

"I know it's a little big," Filia said, gesturing towards the large mace, "but I'm sure you'll grow into it."

"Here you go, Harry," Lina said, handing a necklace with a a thick golden chain attached to a large amulet. "It's a protective talisman I made for you."

"Thanks, Aunt Lina," the now seven-year old said, giving her a hug.

Once the two parted, Amelia stepped forward and handed Harry a bundle of fabric. Harry shook out the cloth and happily exclaimed, "Wow! It's a cape! Thanks Aunt Amelia!"

"Wear it with pride, and shine as a just warrior of justice!" the purple haired sorceress exclaimed, fist raised proudly in the air.

"Isn't that a little redun..." Gourry began before being cut off by Zelgadis. Finally, after Harry had donned his cape and managed to trip a full three times, once taking his aunt with him, the swordsman stepped forward. "I know ya wanted a pet, but Lina said no, and I thought this might help a little." Reaching into his bag, he withdrew the statue from earlier and handed it to his nephew.

Harry looked over the serpentine statue and marveled at the detail carved into the stone. For instance, he could see distinct feathers and scales across its surface. Turning back to Gourry, Harry gave him a hug, saying, "Thank you, Uncle Gourry. It's great."

"And I," Xellos said, appearing with a chain in hand, "have gotten you a pet."

"Really?" Harry asked excitedly. "What is it?"

In lieu of answering, Xellos just closed his eyes tighter, leaned back, and pulled hard on the chain. The thing that came forward was most definitely not pet material. It had huge, sharp teeth and claws that were almost as long as Harry. It's orange fur with bright green spots made it hard to look at, and the tentacles growing off its back looked none too friendly. Flapping it's wings, the beast roared and charged towards Harry. "I named it Fluffy," Xellos happily stated.

Jumping in front of Harry, Gourry drew his sword and shouted, "Harry, run!" Knowing that he couldn't help in this fight and that he would only be a hindrance, Harry nodded his understanding, turned, and fled.

"Harry's safe," Filia called before shifting into her true form. If all else failed, hopefully a dragon's fire would put it down.

"Good! Then I can really cut loose!" Lina said, feral grin firmly in place. "Bram-Blazer!" The blue wave of magic crashed against the monster... and did absolutely nothing.

HR.

Several hundred meters away, Harry was huddled behind a hill and under his cape. He knew how messy his family could be while fighting, and getting covered in monster bits would not be fun. Sighing sadly, he looked down at the statue Gourry had given him. It, the protection amulet, and his cloak were the only things he had had on hand when he had been told to run. Hopefully his other presents would survive the battle as well.

"I should have known better than to trust Uncle Xellos to get me a real pet," the boy grumbled, understandably upset. "After all, he is a mazoku, like he keeps telling me. Why is my family so weird?" After a few more minutes of fighting, which, as he could hear, had been steadily escalating, he sighed again. "All I wanted was a pet," he said quietly, a tear coming to his eye. The tear fell, landing squarely on the statue's head.

There was a blinding flash of light and a shattering sound as the statue in Harry's hands began crumbling away, causing the poor boy to panic. A second later, he heard a soft voice cry, "I LIVE! MWAHAHAHAHA!!!" The thing coughed sheepishly and continued, "Sorry about that. Being a statue that long can make you a bit... stir crazy. Yes, let's go with that."

Harry looked down at his hands, where the voice was coming from, and gasped in shock. Where his statue had been, was an identical winged snake, with only the base missing. Its body was a light brown with darker spots along its length; the scales, themselves had an iridescent sheen. Then there were the wings. Harry had never seen a snake with wings before, but he assumed the five centimeter long, glossy, black wings would be considered impressive on a ten centimeter serpent. Harry would have said something, but, even for his family, talking snakes coming out of statues is strange.

From Harry's hands, the serpent looked up. "Hi?... Hello?..." It sighed. "Probably can't even understand me..." Taking up a decidedly sulking posture, the winged snake continued its grumbling, "Figures. I'm finally freed, and the stupid human can't even understand me."

"Hey!" Harry shouted indignantly. "I can too understand you!" A fraction of a second later he added, "And I'm not stupid!"

"Keep telling yourself that, kid," the black-winged serpent muttered. Luckily, it was too quiet for Harry to catch. "So anyway, kid, who are you?"

"Oh, um, I'm Harry."

"Just Harry?" the snake asked. "Aren't you humans supposed to have two names?"

"Well, I have somewhere between two and eight," Harry replied. "I think."

"Whatever you say, kid. Before you ask, I'm male. You can call me Haietlik." With a smirk he added, "Or I'll bite you."

HR.

Whatever Xellos had found, it was tough. Despite their efforts to use less destructive magics, mostly because this was a nice clearing, and it would have been a shame to destroy it, Lina had needed a Dragon-Slave to put the thing down. Luckily, though, nothing important had been damaged, though Xellos was looking slightly singed. This was, in part, due to Amelia grabbing everything into a pile and doing what she could to project a barrier around it.

Once the thing was dead and mostly cleaned up, Lina shouted, "Okay, Harry, get out here!"

"So it's dead?" Harry called back, already on his way back. Not much can survive a Dragon Slave, so he figured he was safe enough. Besides, anything that Lina's third strongest spell, second if you only counted the ones she would cast, didn't kill would probably kill him even if he had gone out a kilometer. Thus, Harry was back at what used to be there camp within in only a fraction of the time it should have taken.

"Of course it is," Gourry said, happy grin firmly on his face. "Lina'd never let it hurt you."

"Right," Lina agreed. "You can't get yourself killed until after I've finished training you."

"I love you,too, Aunt Lina," Harry said with a smirk. Turning to Gourry, he launched himself into a flying hug and cried, "Thanks for the pet, Uncle Gourry!"

"Huh? Pet?" Gourry asked. "Oh! You mean the statue I gave you. I guess it would make a nice pet rock."

From the collar of Harry's jacket a small serpentine figure arose. "I'll show you a rock," it hissed.

"A coatl," Lina gasped. "Those went extinct more than a millennia ago!"

"Well, now," Haietlik scoffed, "doesn't that just make me feel special."

Harry fought back a laugh in order to ask, "So, can I keep him?"

Lina paused to think for a second. "We didn't pay for him, so I don't see why not."

"Lina means yes," Amelia translated, well used to the redhead's frugal nature. Then again, it might not have been necessary, considering the boy had been partially raised by Lina.


	2. Life's Little Changes

We own neither Slayers, Harry Potter, nor Harsly Potterer, the chimera formed using both and a blow demon. In this chapter, Filia will learn something rather important. As will everyone else. At least some of this is foreshadowing. Maybe. Have fun.

HR.

Harry was hiding again, though he was rather used to it. Over the last four years he had been held hostage six times but had managed to get away and hide an additional ten. It wasn't really his aunts and uncles' fault, unless Xellos had been in charge that day, but they seemed to get caught up in something new every couple of months, if they were lucky. Sometimes they had barely a day to recover before the next thing tried to kill them.

After Harry had gotten Haietlik, his family slowly let him take off by himself during a number of these events, as he was probably safer hiding away from the battle. Unfortunately, this was not one of those times. Instead of being one of the average 'I want to take over the world' types, they were up against a former foe who wanted nothing more than revenge. The man hadn't even been that much of a challenge at the time, and hadn't even been worth noting so the attack was something of a surprise.

Thus the villain had fielded a veritable army of golems to aid him in his dirty work. Yes, Harry could take out a golem. It really wasn't that hard. Doing so with out calling attention to yourself, however, was next to impossible, so Harry was hiding while golems of all different types, including some that were just stupidly expensive, stomped around. The boy had to admit, though, that with the way Gourry, Zelgadis, Filia, and even Lina were destroying the stone golems, it might have been a wise precaution. For example, a normal sword would have trouble with a diamond golem, so Gourry and Amelia were taking care of those, Amelia by disrupting the animating magic, and Gourry by using his excessively sharp magic sword. Xellos, on the other hand, was mostly watching, only killing those golems that were trying to smash him.

Of course, when hiding from a horde of incredibly heavy monsters, the inevitable was going to happen. The golem didn't need to find you, it just needed to step on you. Harry's scream of agony echoed across the plain, causing the battle to cease for a brief moment. Of course, that's when Xellos decided the fight wasn't fun anymore. Yes, the agony was exquisite, but Xellos put that aside to look at the big picture. Harry had been a tool in annoying the others for years, even if the boy also produced more happiness than the mazoku cared for. And now his favorite toy since Lina and Zelgadis was dieing. He couldn't have that, now could he?

With a snap of his fingers, only one golem remained, and that one was crippled. "Why don't you get Count Farishbach while I take care of Harry?" he asked before blurring, streaking towards where the boy lay. The others nodded and made their way towards their enemy.

Filia, unlike the others who had apparently forgotten what Xellos was, again, followed the being of pure evil, not trusting him to do what was best for Harry, especially as the word 'heal' had never come out of his mouth. Her intuition proved correct as she saw Xellos splitting off a portion of himself, creating a new mazoku. There was no good reason for the priest to do such a thing, at least not good for Harry.

When the forms of Harry, the golem next to him, and the newly spawned being of darkness began twisting and spiraling together, she screamed, "No!" and charged into the vortex. Even though she would die in the process, she would never allow Harry to be claimed as Xellos' subordinate.

HR.

Someplace, if it could be called such, an entity that may or may not have had a mouth and should not be contemplated too deeply, smiled. This would be amusing.

HR.

It was the screams that let Lina, Amelia, and the others know that something was very, very wrong. There were more than one scream, melding together in a way that was plainly unnatural. One sounded like Harry, and another was Filia. Each one would have gotten their attention, but both at once was definitely enough to get them moving.

Zelgadis quickly finished off the idiot who had dared injure Harry that badly and rushed off to join the others. It did not take long to find Xellos, who was supposed to be taking care of Harry. Instead of healing the boy, the mazoku had done something involving a magical vortex of some kind, and now Harry was nowhere in sight. Neither was Filia, for that matter, and the priest was looking far too smug.

"Where's Harry?" Lina demanded, grabbing the purple haired trickster and violently shaking him.

"And where's Filia?"

"I'm merely doing what I said I would," Xellos replied. "I'm taking care of Harry. It's not my fault Filia decided to jump in."

"You were supposed to heal him!" Zelgadis shouted angrily.

"I'm a mazoku," Xellos explained, as though speaking to a group of especially slow children. "I'm not actually able to heal him, you know."

"So what did you do, huh?" Lina shouted, an ominous light forming in her hand. Gourry was quickly followed in his race to get behind Lina, where it would probably be safer. Maybe.

"Well," Xellos said, turning to the swirling vortex, "we could just wait a minute for everything to finish."

The group watched anxiously as the vortex gradually slowed, obscuring anything they might have seen until the last. Finally, though, it faded, revealing two prone figures, neither one moving. One of the figures really should not have been hidden by the vortex, as Filia was in her natural form, mostly. For some reason, she was covered in patches of what appeared to be green pebbles. Other than that, she seemed fine, if exhausted. The other figure, despite its oddness, could only have been Harry.

The boy had changed much from what he had been before. With his clothing gone, the differences were only that much easier to see. The most obvious change was his skin. Where before there had been the soft, pink skin of the average human, there was now light green skin with pebbles of an even darker green rock spread through out. This alone confirmed that Harry was now a chimera. The group crowded around, the girls and Gourry to see what other changes had occurred, and Zelgadis to bring a sheet and keep Harry's modesty. Xellos, on the other hand, seemed to be talking to himself.

The next most obvious addition was his tail. It was very similar to Filia's both in shape and length, though it was just as green and stone studded as the rest of him. Judging by what Zelgadis' body felt like, that tail would make a devastating club, if Harry was inclined to use it as such. Considering that the tip was a spade shape like Filia's, though with dark green edges which promised to be sharper than a razor, it wasn't very likely; the tail was much better suited as a spear.

With the most obvious changes observed while making their way to the unconscious youth, the adults, and Gourry, could see even more changes once they were closer. Hoisting Harry up, Amelia leaned him against herself and tried to rub his hair reassuringly. Having seen this coming, Zelgadis slapped his face in something akin to resignation when Amelia yelped in pain; Harry's hair was now extremely stiff, much like his fellow chimera's.

"Ow, that hurts," she complained. "Why'd his hair have to get all stiff like yours, Mr. Zelgadis?"

With a sigh, Zelgadis knelt down and began checking the boy for other changes. On a hunch, he checked Harry's ears. Sure enough, they had changed, though not as dramatically as Zelgadis' own. Where his could not be hidden without the help of a cowl, Harry's, while pointed and longer than normal, could be hidden easily enough by his hair, if properly styled.

The blue haired chimera then moved to the next likely spot for the group's adoptive nephew to have changed. One exceptionally obvious change, though minor and purely cosmetic, was that Harry's scar had turned into a solid mass of green stone, while keeping the original shape perfectly. Gently prying open the unconscious boy's eyelids revealed the whites of his eyes; the eyes were rolled back too far in his head for any detail to be made out. After that, Zelgadis moved to the mouth, gently forcing the jaws open. Inside he found a set of fangs that would do any dragon proud.

With a thought towards Harry's new dragon blood, Zelgadis grabbed one of Harry's hands and looked at it. Instead of normal finger tips, the last digit of each finger was elongated and mostly made into a thick, emerald green talon. Considering what probably contributed to the claws, not to mention their color, those things would probably be deadly once Harry learned how to use them.

Satisfied that he had found all the remaining changes, Zelgadis carefully wrapped the sheet around Harry and carried him back over to the rest of the group. "He's been changed quite a bit," he said, nearly growling in his anger. Turning to Xellos, he demanded, "What did you do to him?"

"Why, I only did what I said I would," Xellos replied, holding up a hand defensively. "I saved him, and got rid of that pesky soul fragment that was clinging to him, too, just as I promised. I wasn't expecting Filia to jump in like that though. Oh dear, this could complicate things, couldn't it?"

"Who did you promise that to?" Lina growled, flames seeming to fill the air around her.

"That," Xellos said, holding up a finger, "is a secret."

Gourry looked thoughtful, or blank, for a second before slapping a fist into the palm of his other hand. "Hey, I know!" he began. "Is it that person you've been annoying since Harry's been here?"

"When did you figure this out?" Lina raged, slamming Gourry into the ground.

"Oh," Gourry pondered, holding his chin in thought. "About a month after Harry arrived, I guess."

"But Mr. Gourry, why didn't you tell us?" Amelia asked.

"You mean you didn't know? I thought it was obvious."

"Hm, that was very observant of you," Xellos praised. "Though I think I'll let Harry give you the details. Once he wakes up, of course."

"Though it may take time, the stroke of justice is sure and true!" Amelia said before plopping down into a comfortable position, her back against Filia.

"And that means what, exactly?" Lina asked, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

"We'll just have to wait," Amelia replied. Tossing a corner of her cloak over her eyes, she settled in for a short nap and drifted off only a few minutes later. The others soon followed her example.

HR.

The sun was just beginning to set when the first of the two victims of Xellos' antics awoke. The next half an hour was spent watching the mazoku frantically evading Filia's attacks. "Xellos!" she roared. "What did you do to Harry?"

Dodging a beam of plasma, Xellos called back, "Why, I made him into a chimera. Silly dragon, couldn't you tell that for yourself?" This comment earned the mazoku another round of attacks, which destroyed a decent amount of the surrounding landscape, including the remains of the golems strewn about from before. It should be noted that a number of the golems had been hacked apart and were missing pieces, such as the emerald, diamond, gold, silver, and ruby golems. Lina would have never forgiven herself if she let those go to waste.

Leaning over towards Zelgadis, Amelia asked, "Do you think she's realized that she changed as well?"

"I doubt it," the chimera replied. "If she had, she would have been screaming about that, too, by now."

"So Zel," Lina began. "you've been through this before. How much longer should Harry be out?"

"Simply put, I have no idea," Zelgadis replied. "Rezo never told me how long it took for me to recover, and Harry is a much different mix from me. The addition of an Astral entity alone could make a huge difference, let alone things as powerful as a mazoku and a golden dragon."

"So all we can do is wait, huh?" Lina muttered. "We'll see about that." Walking over to Harry, she knelt down and cast Counter-Sleep. If this spell didn't work, there wouldn't be very much else they could do about it.

"Gah!" Harry cried as he jolted to wakefulness. The spell did as advertized, though Lina should have learned a bit of restraint, as the rush the young chimera had received was not enjoyable by any means. "What was that for, Aunt Lina?" he demanded.

"It's been half a day and you hadn't woken up yet," Lina replied with a shrug. "You shouldn't have been that lazy."

The boy shook his head in irritation before blinking. "So who's that?" he asked pointing at the open air.

"Um, Harry," Amelia began, "there's no one there."

"Are you sure?" Cocking his head to the side, Harry added, "I think she's laughing at Uncle Xellos." After another moment, he asked, "Why is Aunt Filia somewhat green? Did she eat something funny again?"

"Ah, no," the strange woman said. "She just jumped into some sort of chimera spell the mazoku cast on you and came out that way."

"So Uncle Xellos made me into a chimera?" Harry pondered aloud. "Cool!"

"Oh, good," the woman said, bending down towards the newly minted chimera. "I was afraid that you might not have been able to see me. Harry, I'm Lily Potter, your mother." When the young boy fell over stunned with shock, she muttered, "That could have gone better."

"Oh, most certainly," Xellos replied from behind her. "But I'm sure the others would love to know why Harry's just fainted."

"So you're done being chased already?" the Astral redhead asked. "Pity."

"Oh yes," Xellos replied. "Filia is still rather tired from helping create new life."

"Wha?!" Gourry exclaimed. "You mean that Filia is Harry's new mother?"

"Well, I suppose that's one way of putting it," Xellos said, scratching at his cheek. A second later, he nodded, or he was hit in the back of the head by an invisible, incorporeal woman. It's hard to tell at times.

"Now that Harry and Filia are awake, can we find a village?" Amelia asked. "We're going to need new clothing for Harry, after all."

"Going to a village this soon probably isn't a good idea," Zelgadis cautioned. "If he can't hide at least his tail, Harry could be in a lot of danger."

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Lina said dismissively.

"Xellos," Filia panted as she glided in. "Once I've rested a bit, you are going to die." With one last pant, the dragon collapsed onto her side and drifted off to sleep.

"Well, regardless of where we're going, we'll be staying here for the night," Lina huffed. "I doubt we'll get either of them up before morning anyways." Grabbing her bedroll, she set up for the night, using Filia as a windbreak. The others followed suit, and soon everyone was asleep.

HR.

Harry was just a few months past his tenth birthday when he and his family made their way to the Kingdom of Zefielia, where Lina had grown up, so Harry could take his exams to join the Sorcerers' Guild. While they could have gone elsewhere, and Lina had wanted to go anywhere else, Zefielia was chosen for a very specific reason. Lina had gone through this center, so the mages there would be more accommodating. This, however, might have more to do with fear than respect.

As Harry approached the great double doors of the Guild center, he reflected on the three years since that fateful day. It was still amusing to look back on that first week and how Lina had kept trying to pry emeralds out of both him and Filia. The first time they had entered a town had been an even bigger shock. Both he and Filia were exposed to the delights of gourmet misery, something neither expected. While Harry had been young enough to adapt, with some difficulty, it had taken everyone, including Xellos, to stop the golden dragon doing anything stupid.

And then there was the training. One of the first things he began working on in earnest was the golden dragons' transformation magics, for rather obvious reasons. Being made of rock would label you a freak, but being made of emerald labels you as a source of income. Being a child just made Harry an even more tempting target. Apparently, swords and maces, worn in plain sight, were all the rage among the youth. It had taken him more than a year, but he had eventually reached the point where he could maintain his human form, even in his sleep. Like his aunt, though, he still had trouble with his tail.

His training in the more mundane magics had progressed as well. He knew the theory behind casting the Dragon-Slave, the Ra-Tilt, and a number of the higher level White Magic spells, but the first two his family thought he should wait on casting, and the last was more a matter of what he was. Frankly, large amounts of pure good flowing through an entity partially composed of pure, distilled evil, was not a fun experience. The lower level spells worked just fine, though.

Finally reaching the door, he shook himself out of his reminiscing and pounded on the heavy wood. The dull thud of flesh on wood was not very loud and barely traveled to Harry's own ears. Frowning, he grabbed his mace and slammed it into the door, causing a boom that reverberated mightily. Nodding his head in satisfaction, Harry clipped the mace back to the side of his leg and waited, ignoring the large indentation he had created.

When someone finally made his way out of the building just minutes before Harry would have caused more damage, the man took one look at the door and asked, "I say, was that really necessary?"

"It's not my fault your door doesn't knock right," Harry replied.

"We have a bell," the man pointed out, gesturing towards a cord.

"Now how did I miss that?" Harry wondered. "Anyways, I'm here to take the exams to enter the Guild."

"I see," the man replied. "And how old are you?"

Harry growled softly. He had been told this might happen. The fools in charge of the Guild felt that people should be of a certain age before they could join. Lina had explained it all to him before. The leaders were jealous because it took them so long to get up to the level needed to join themselves, and they wanted to spread the misery.

Well, Harry was, among other things, an Inverse, and Inverses didn't take well to authority figures, even if Luna was reportedly a part time waitress. If the Guild thought Harry would bow to their ridiculous limitations then they would learn that they were sorely mistaken. Hopefully the body count wouldn't be too high; his mother wouldn't approve of that.

"What does age have to do with taking a test?" Harry demanded. "I am Harry James Potter Gabriev Inverse Metallium ul Copt Graywords de Saillune, and I demand to have the test administered."

"I'm sorry, young man, but the rules are absolute. You can not be tested unless you are..." the man began, only to trail off. "Did you say Saillune?"

"Yes," Harry replied. "I thought you'd be more worried about the Inverse bit, though."

"You don't mean the natural enemy of all who live!" the man exclaimed in shock.

"Yup," Harry agreed happily. "Aunt Lina might not like you calling her that. I'll have to go and tell her how you feel. I'll have the time if I'm not taking a test, right?"

"Er... hold on for a moment while I confer with my colleagues," the man requested before ducking back inside. Ten minutes later, Harry was considering the merits of casting a Giga-Slave, despite not actually knowing it. Finally, however, the doors opened again and the man stepped out. "I am sorry for the wait," he said, doing a fair job of hiding his fear. "Some of our newer members had to be convinced as to why annoying Lina the Pink would be bad for their health. Then we had to chastise them for laughing." Under his breath he added, "Damned fools are going to doom us all."

"Blackmail material," Harry noted with a grin. "Yay."

"Doomed," the man said again. "We're all doomed." Shaking himself out of his depression, he said, "We have decided to test you, despite your youth. However, several of our members disagree with this decision and have demanded that you will have to take an additional test. It will likely be something the Council deems impossible."

"Do they have a betting pool?" Harry wondered idly.

The man winced. "Yes, they do," he admitted.

"Good," the prospective sorcerer said happily. "Here's ten gold pieces. Put them all on me finishing within seven hours." Harry tossed a small pouch over and smiled as he was led into the testing area.

HR.

"I'll put twenty on seven hours."

"Seven hours, Gargi," one of the proctors asked. "You must not have very much faith in him, then.

"What?" Gargi asked. "Oh, I'm not saying he'll give up by then. I think he'll finish."

"We'll see. I doubt he'll even make it through the practicals."

"What did you do, Modan?" Gargi demanded.

"Oh, nothing much," Modan smirked. "I just chose the spell he'll have to cast to prove his Black Magic proficiency."

From outside the room, in the testing chamber, came a scream, "How do you expect me to cast a Gaav-Flare?! He's been dead for YEARS!"

"Hm. Maybe he'll prefer the follow up spell."

"Laguna-Blast? You seriously expect me to cast Laguna-Blast?" Harry growled. "Stop trying to have me call on dead mazoku! One more. Just one more impossible spell, and we'll see how well I cast the Ragna-Blade!"

"Isn't that the one Inverse used to kill Gaav?" Gargi asked.

"... I think we'll stop messing with him now."

HR.

"So, did I pass?" Harry asked, looking over the proctors. It had taken him six and a half hours, but he had finished. After the debacle with the Black Magic section of the test everything had gone smoothly until the last segment.

"Yes, you did," one of the proctors ground out. "Somehow."

"Stop grumbling," Gargi reprimanded. "The lad managed feats far exceeding our requirements. He passed and you know it!"

"You know," Harry commented, "hiding half of the research materials I needed on the Astral Plane wasn't very nice. I'd love to hear how you did it, though."

"And I'd love to know how you even found it," Modan muttered.

"That," Harry began, grinning while wagging a finger. "Is a secret." All of the proctors hit the ground in a tangled heap.

"Now, before it gets any later, I would like to present you with your Color," Gargi said. "It was put to a vote, and the Council has decided to name you Harry the Harlequin. Welcome to the guild."

Harry blinked in surprise. "That's a color?"

"We've been branching out recently," Gargi confided.

"I see. Now, about that bet?"

"Here you go," Gargi said, hoisting up a decent sized bag of gold. "The others weren't very happy when we won. Now, are you sure you'll be able to carry it all?"

"You remember what I did to the door, right?" Harry asked, a slight edge in his voice.

"Hm, I'm sure you're right," the man agreed. "Here you go. Nice meeting you. I need to go do something now. Goodbye." After depositing the gold into the boy's hands, Gargi made a break for the relative safety of somewhere else.

HR.

As Harry's eleventh birthday approached, Lily was beginning to get rather agitated, though only Harry and Xellos noticed. When asked, she replied that it was about time for Harry to receive his Letter, and the capitol letter was actually audible. She refused to elaborate further, though, even on pain of severe mocking. And mock her Xellos did.

Finally, the day came. As they were preparing breakfast, Haietlik returned from his hunting, so full that he couldn't even fly properly. The strange thing, though was that the coatl was carrying an envelope in his mouth, a rather neat trick for a snake. Slithering up to Harry, he spit out the letter and said, "Hey, I think this is yours."

"Harry, where did the snake get that?" Lina asked with a frown. They were currently in the middle of nowhere, so there was no reason for Harry to be receiving anything.

"He ate the owl, didn't he?" Lily groaned.

"An owl out here, this early?" Harry mused. "Weird."

"Now how are we going to send a response?" Lily complained.

"Come on," Lina urged. "I want to see. Let me see it."

"It's a letter, I think," Harry said, holding it out. "The address is really weird, though."

Grabbing the envelope, Lina began reading, "Harry James Potter Gabriev Inverse Metallium ul Copt Graywords de Saillune the Harlequin, 15 km North of Saillune, Ruby-Eye's Staff, Cupboard Under the Stairs, 4 Privet Drive, Surrey, Little Whinging, England, Chaotic Blue's Staff."

"Wow, Harry, you're from another plane?" Amelia asked. "I thought you were just from the outer world."

"I guess," Harry replied. "Anyways, Mom wants me to open the letter. She says that this is what she was waiting for."

"Weird name, though," Lina mused. "Who'd name any place Hogwarts?"

"Wasn't there a Hogworst Tavern in the last village?" Gourry asked.

"Who asked you?" the redhead demanded, slamming the jellyfish brained swordsmen over the head.

"Anyways," Zelgadis said, "we might as well open the letter. It's not like we can learn anything else from just the envelope."

"Mom, stop bouncing like that, I'm opening it already," Harry sighed. Sometimes his mother acted younger than his aunts and uncles, which was something of a troubling thought, considering how Uncle Gourry and Aunt Lina acted most of the time. Slitting open the letter with a handy dagger from his belt, he extracted the thick parchment from inside.

"So, what is it?" Filia asked. "Are we going to have to fight something else, again?" After the fifteenth formal challenge addressed to any one of their group, including one to the snake, she was starting to get rather annoyed. If the young dragon saw another of those in the next year, she was going to be using her plasma breath on whomever sent it.

"It looks like an invitation," Harry said, scanning over the page. "To Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"What kind of a name is that?" Lina scoffed. "At least the Sorcerer's Guild's name makes sense."

"Well, they seem to want Harry to go, and he could learn some new magic, so it could be interesting," Zelgadis commented.

"But it's a school," Lina protested. "It's got to cost something, Who's going to pay for it?"

Harry was starting to look a little dejected when Lily spoke up, "Don't worry, Harry. Your trust vault should be enough for any school supplies you could possibly need." With a grumble she added, "Including a decent racing broom."

"Sweet!" Harry exclaimed. "Mom says that she and Dad paid for me to go there already."

Lina looked at Harry closely and asked, "There was more than just that, wasn't there?"

"Why do they keep doing that? It's annoying only hearing half of what they're saying," Amelia added.

"You're right," the red headed sorceress decided. "The next spell we develop will be to see and hear on the Astral Plane."

"Hm, I wonder what would happen if you decided not to go, or to go somewhere else," Zelgadis pondered, ignoring Lina and Amelia's discussion.

"Don't look at me," Lily said to Harry's questioning gaze. "We were too busy hiding at the time for me to bother asking. Wizarding economics wasn't exactly an offered course, after all."

"I see," Xellos commented as he phased into sight. "They allow people like Lily into their world and take all of their money, since they don't know how to use it right. A truly brilliant strategy. I suppose there weren't that many jobs available, either."

"What! That's horrible!" Amelia cried, jumping up into a nearby tree for dramatic effect. "We will have to go and show them the true strength of Justice!"

"I wouldn't know,"the Astral redhead admitted. "James was rich, so we wouldn't have had to work at all, if we didn't want to, and I was too busy with Harry the first year or two out of Hogwarts. Well, that and playing matchmaker for the other Marauders. Never did manage it, though. At least I'll get a second chance now."

"Amelia, get down from there,"Zelgadis sighed. There isn't even anyone here to see you."

"So how are supposed to tell them if Harry is going to be going or not?" Filia asked.

Turning back to the flesh and blood conversation, Harry said, "They want us to reply by owl. I wonder what that's supposed to mean."

"Didn't Haietlik eat an owl for breakfast?" Gourry asked.

"Yes!" Lily snapped, even though most of the others were incapable of hearing her. "We needed that owl so we could send a note to Hogwarts. We can't do that without an owl, now can we?"

"Would a coatl work?" Harry asked.

"I suppose so. Assuming he can find his way like the owls do," the former witch mused. "I've heard of ravens and even augureys being used, so it might work."

"Well, Mom says we might as well try," the young chimera told the rest of his family. "So, Haietlik, feel up to it?"

"What? Say no and let some feather dusters show me up?" the serpent hissed. "It'd take the Lord of Nightmares, herself, to stop me."

"We really do need to make that spell," Zelgadis commented, showing that he had been paying at least a little bit of attention earlier. "And add talking to snakes to it."

"So we're just going to send an acceptance now and let Harry go off on his own later?" Filia demanded.

"Now where would the fun be in that?" Xellos asked with a merry smile. "We'll go with him, of course."

"So, we need to head back to where we found Harry, right?" Zelgadis asked.

"I guess," Amelia agreed. "It would make things easier." After a moment, she asked, "Does anyone remember where we found him?"

With a happy smile on his face, Xellos replied, "Why, of course I do. It'd be silly to forget something as important as that."

"So?" Lina demanded. "Where was it?"

"Now what would the fun be in telling you that?" The screams of frustration were sublime.

HR.

It had, surprisingly enough, taken only a few days to find the clearing where Harry had arrived. Oddly, the vegetation within the perimeter of the circle left bare long ago had never grown back.

"Is it just me," Lina asked, "or does this place look exactly like it did eight years ago?"

"I don't know, Lina," Gourry replied. "I can't even remember it."

"I figured that much, Gourry," the redhead sighed. "So we're at the portal. Who's going in first?"

"We should send the garbage in first," Filia decided. "If anything happens, at least no one will miss him."

"I wouldn't be a very good judge of the effects, I'm afraid," Xellos disagreed, having been around the dragon long enough to blunt any such barbs. "As a mazoku, I am far less likely to have a negative response."

"And they call me a kid," Harry muttered, much to his mother's amusement. "There's an easy way to settle this," he declared, before stepping into the portal.

"Harry, no!" Amelia cried as she dove forward, trying to stop Harry from doing anything too stupid. The young wizard made it safely through the portal, however, the shrine maiden's momentum was not to be thwarted by such pesky things as gravity and friction, and she skidded into the dimensional weak spot head first.

"And here I thought we'd go through in a mature, dignified manner," Lina sighed, the resigned sarcasm clearly audible. That said, of those left, only Xellos and Zelgadis noticed. Filia did notice the extra food floating around but didn't give it much thought. "Alright," Lina continued, with a complete reversal of tone. "Who's next?" No one moved. With a light growl, she grabbed Gourry's arm and spun around, launching the swordsman through the portal with the cry, "Get in there!"

Observing the way the redhead was huffing and puffing, the others decided not to poke the proverbial dragon with the proverbial stick and calmly, though quickly, took the proverbial leap. The fact that one of the three was a dragon, herself, and another could effortlessly kill a number of dragons simultaneously, was entirely irrelevant. Satisfied with her handiwork, Lina stepped through.


End file.
